The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-07-06
Some Changes We Have Witnessed
and Their Lesson.
An Essay by FRANCIS FESTREss, Esq, delivered
by Invitation before the Alumni Of the Univer-
sity OF Mississippi 18th June, 1857.
Fslloo Alumni, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Felloeo Alumni, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Twenty-six years ago there went out
rom these classic halls more than two
hundred young men to engage in a |
struggle that seemed to involve all that
vas honorable or desirable to the proud |
aud chivalric Southron. At the tocsin |
IF war their ambitious spirits burned |
within them. Their aroused martial |
ardor was irrepressible, and minors |
though most of them were, they precip- |
ltated themselves in the very forefront
Of the conflict. Suggestions of failure
in the unequal contest we're not tolerated.
The fearful cost was not counted.
What king going to make war against
another king stitch not down first and
consulteth whether he be able with ten
thousand to meet him that cometh with
twenty thousand"-was not a condition
or admonition to be considered by our
impetuous sovereigns. Success only was
thought of. Miracles of victory were
anticipated. God was expected to
champion our sacred cause. The Ark
of the Covenant was with Us. We were
to march to the cities of the enemy and
at the blast of transforms the walls
were to fall as they did at Jericho when
comprised by the priests. That zone
should chase thousand and two should
put to flight ten thousand" was con-
sidered not at all improbable. Books
were laid aside. The study of Greek
roots or Latin derivatives, or the Calcu-
lus, which had so lately and exclusively
occupied their time, was suddenly and
finally abandoned by the students.
They rushed impetuously to the deadl 9
breach, and like the immortal six hun
dred at Balaklava into the very jaws of
death. Few survived. By far the
greater portion have joined the silent
majority. They are lost to us and a
remnant now remains to gather here.
But the question suggests itself, what
must have been
THE STATE OF SOCIETY THEN,
and what the overwhelming crisis tina
would induce these young men thu:
abruptly to give up the delightful anC
peaceful pursuit of education anC
plunge headlong into a bloody anC
relentless war? What induced thi
sudden change? The sentiment tina
moved them was but the reflex of tina
which swept the country. Coming a
they did from all its borders, they wert
the thermometer which unerringly in
Dictated the social and political condi
ton of the South. Society as then con
stituted was in this section peculiarl,
of the cavalier type. Proud, sensitive
inclined to look with pity upon tn
toiling, struggling millions who earne,
| hnT hNyf hn Of H.,
the lordly Southron lived at ease upol
the labor of his slaves, rightfulIy AM
honestly his.
Such conditions would inevitably fos
ter and develop the exact status whic
characterized Southern society Their
The possession and ownership of a vas
domain of fertile soil brought into Gu
tivation by slave labor, of necessit
made the dominant class proud and e1
elusive. 1t necessarily widened tn
, space between grades in society. TIL
dominant class got further from tn
! servient class. Relatively speaking tn
one rose higher as the other fell lower
and the Southern gentleman with abur
dant means at his command, wit
leisure to study all the graces and re
finements of civilized life, soon becam
the finest specimen OF cultivated nc
bility. But the means by which b
attained to that distinction were a
Ofiense to the civilized world without
The time had come when the voice c
the world was in unison against
OUR PECULIAR INSTITUTION,
and demanded its abrogation. Our pee
Ill Ia .
and we failed. Reduced from aifiuenc
to poverty, our homes destroyed, GU
property gone, we returned from th
war with nothing, from nothing, t
: nothing. The change wrought in fou
/ years was startling and incomprehensi
? BILE. The conqueror and the vanquishe
: were alike at sea. Craftsmanship wa
slow to suggest any solution of tn
problem, or bring order out of existin
chaos. Slavery was gone. More tina
four millions of negroes-human being
though of an inferior race-were Sc
free and left among us. Sixty-fiv
5 thousand million dollars was estimate
as the cost of the war. A hundre
, thousand of our own slaves had bee
enlisted in the ranks of our adversary t
l. fight against us. All that could hav
: been conceived of in the way of gallin
humiliation fell to our lot. Those VIII
had been bought originally from on
conquerors, paying a fair equivalen
: were thus suddenly emancipated, an
J, that, too, by the sword of those VIII
sold them to us. What change! Ho
sudden! How radical and thoroug
and how far reaching in its resultsl
But a period Immediately folIowe
: not less dangerous. Organized armie
found no open foe to meet. Societ
was chaotic-no law was of bindin
force.
"The simple plan
=, "That they may get who have the power
"And they may help who cam
obtained among many. The Pres
dent had been murdered. The friend
of Republican Government shuddere
r at the prospect. The lamp of Republ
e can Liberty was Pickering in its socke
and the last experiment at free govern
mept was seemingly about to fail.
RECONSTRUCTION CAME.
The States whose slaves had bee
! freed, and whose fair fields had bee
; devastated, had in store, if possible,
5 yet more humiliating and bitter expert
ence Our former slaves, emancipate
by the fortunes of war, were now to b
invested with all the rights of citizen
ship, exercise the elective franchise an
frame the laws which should govern thei
late masters. Over 100000 ignoran
negroes, who, with their ancestors, ha
: been for two hundred years in bondag,
2 were now to shape the laws, fill the o
fees, and to great extent control tn
destiny of our Southern country.
p; In my own State, the trouble, thong
{, severe, was short-lived, for our whit
population largely predominated. No
so, however, in your cotton State.
where the great majority of your voter
, were negroes, and your intelligent whit
voters had been DISTINGUISHED. The ga
liant State of Mississippi had an area c
10000 square miles and population O
100000 More than sixty per cent. G
! that population were ignorant negroes
not one of whom in twenty could rea
: or write. Carpet baggers and scala
wags, taking advantage of your disa
tiers, were quick to pander to race preiu
dice and fasten upon your white popu
!, lation disabling acts, depriving them @
the elective franchise and c0mmittin
the whole interests of the State to
! ! horde of adventures and negroes who's
, ignorance was as dense as their rascality
! was damnable. The people who owne
. the land and paid the taxes had little o
no voice in government. You had here
Massachusetts, Governor, whom you GO
rid OF by means never fully understood
by US little further north. The man
ner of his taking off, and the mean
used to induce him to skip, were n
doubt legitimate. Self preservation is tn
first law of nature. Further enduranc
became impossible. 1t was said Ware